Teacher Struggle to Pay for Practicing Licences

A total of 109,374 teachers from all the provinces registered with the Teaching Council of Zambia (TCZ) have defaulted on their certificates of practice.

This is according to a statement issued by Teaching Council of Zambia spokesperson Ngoza Malonga, who said that out of 134,374 registered teachers, about 25,000 had paid for their certificates.

“July 31st, 2018 was set as the deadline for application of practicing certificates. However, out of the 134, 374 registered teachers, only about 25,000 teachers have so far applied for the practicing certificates. This means that 109, 374 of the registered teachers have defaulted in this regard,” said Malonga.

She said that given the difficulties most teachers were having in settling their bills, several stakeholders made requests to the council to consider more flexible payment plans through the payroll.

“It is in this context that the TCZ has secured a PMEC Deduction Code for teachers in the public sector who have not paid and applied for the practicing certificates to do so,” said Malonga.

Malonga added that for teachers in the private sector, the TCZ will enter into a memoranda of understanding with Private School Proprietors to agree on an equivalent payment modality.

“In view of the foregoing, each teacher is expected to apply for their practicing certificate by the end of August 2018. TCZ has left up to 31st August, 2018 as the window period for those applicants that wish to pay the full amount for the practicing certificate fee by cash, failure to which they have to pay through the payroll,” emphasized Malonga.